Data Structures Explained for Beginners - How I Wish I was Taught

If I was a beginner, here's how I wish someone explained Data Structures to me so that I would ACTUALLy understand them.

Data structures and algorithms are not most people's favourite coding concepts to learn. nevertheless, if you want to learn how to pass coding interviews, mastering data structures and algorithms is a must.

From linked lists to priority queues to graphs...when I was a beginner, I could not understand why these things are even important. What do data structures even mean and why do big tech companies ask these stupid leetcode-style questions in coding interviews?

But once I actually sat down and over a few months learned the theory and practice of data structures, I started to appreciate just how beautiful computer science can be.

In this video, I explain data structures for dummies and (hopefully) in a future video, I will explain algorithms in a similar way!

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CHAPTERS:
0:00 How I Learned to appreciate data structures
1:50 What are data structures & why are they important?
3:20 How computer memory works (Lists & Arrays)
6:00 Complex data structures (Linked Lists)
8:10 Why do we have different data structures?
10:11 SPONSOR: signNow API
11:35 A real-world example (Priority Queues)
14:30 The beauty of Computer Science
15:40 What you should do next (step-by-step path)
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On this channel, my aim is to give you the tools, strategies and methods to learn to code effectively - according to science! In addition, I document my life as a self-taught software engineer.

[peterscott]

I finished the cs50x course a month ago and just finished cs50w. It has literally turned me from knowing nothing about programming to the point that I want to code every single day. I just can't think you enough for recommending these amazing courses for me. Btw, the video is great. Hope your channel gain back views

[abroniewski]

Just came across your video. This is gold. I had an idea of data structures, but having you link it to memory in the computer and why it matters.... *chef's kiss*

[BitwiseMobile]

I LOVED data structures! One of my favorite classes back in 1991 was Data Structures In C. This was before they started teaching Java in the Uni, which was before they started teaching Python as they do now. Back in the day you had two choices - C and Pascal. I saw the writing on the wall and I knew C was the future, so I focused on C (after taking one requisite Pascal class). Anyway, that data structures class was the best class I ever attended, and I probably use more from that class in my every day coding than any other class I attended for programming. We learned deques, linked lists, queues, stacks, rb trees, binary trees, and probably a half a dozen more data structures that I am forgetting right now. In fact the first thing I do when I learn a new language is implement those data structures. Even though they might already be implemented as a feature of the language I will implement them anyway to get a better understanding of the language. For example, most duck typed languages have associative arrays built in as part of the language implementation, but that doesn't stop me from creating a red-black tree in that language anyway :D. I live and breath computers, always have, so for me anything that helps me understand them better is a goal for me. I'm auto-didactic and taught myself assembler on the IBM XT (back in 1986) using the DOS Debug command when I was 14, so learning about languages is something that I really enjoy.

[leow.]

I have played around with python a bit and thinking about how you wanna organize data and writing reusable functions that work with that makes a lot of stuff a lot faster to code, and you need to fix a lot fewer bugs. It's like when you have containers on ships and all harbors are set up to load and unload containers of that size from ships. It just makes everything a lot smoother and faster (if you do a good job with your structures in the first place).

This isn't as low level as the stuff in this video but it's similar, just more surface level

[Raptor-jvfi]

Thanks for explaining this stuff so clearly and why it is so important to learn it. I had a mental block going in to learn this stuff cause I never use it at work to the extent that they are going to have you do at interviews, you really sold it to me with your creative analogy of someone maintaining a messy room. Thank you very much again!

[anthonygibson]

Keep the videos coming man! You’ve got a great pulse on what I want to see

[animetexture]

C, C++ is good way to learn data structures because you have to do all things manually it is good way to understand what is happening behind the scenes

[KT-djiy]

I have experienced that same epiphany about the importance and, yes, beauty of data structures. And not just in Programming and CompSci. My background is in Physics, EE, and Computing, but I now run a company and so on the surface I spend more time thinking about sales, finance & accounting, HR issues, and so on than I do about technical matters. But that's only the surface. In a deeper and more real sense, it truly is data structures all the way down. At the risk of being too grandiose and philosophical, I now see data structures as being so important and fundamental not just because they concern the way we organize the stuff we put in our computers; data structures are so important and fundamental because they concern the structure of thought itself.

[ashrav]

Thank you Toumas so much for this video, it's great to know foundational topics like DS&A from someone who went through the same journey, to give me a clear vision of what one can face in later stages,
please we need more videos like these, a series of an overview of what a self-taught programmer should know,

also it'd be great if you could imitate problems like the ones you face at real work, to see how the things I'm learning are applied in real life.

[shinthantkaung]

Thank you for creating this video. I believe that many people typically have a lot of problems attempting to understand DSA. Also it's quite important as for any Software Engineer.

[agilethoughts]

You do a nice job of going over "what's in it for me." Love the 'no one wants to hire a developer who keeps their code like their messy room.' (Not a direct quote.)🙂

[originalsal]

Oh man this is such a good explanation and as soon as you said the word abstraction my brain had already gone out to thinking out hypothetical algorithms. I’m just getting back into coding since I’ve been busy with uni and mostly coded in the summers, but now that I’m trying to get back and conquer JavaScript this was a very eye opening video so thanks for that!!

[pfeffer_corp]

Thank you so much for this video. I am a second year data science student and I'm starting to get overwhelmed with studying the data structures, algorithms and computability module. Finding your video is helping me feel more calm about it.

[mehki]

Hey! New to the channel and definitely enjoying the content! Wondering if you could do more in-depth break downs on just some of the data structures such as ID=, Class= console.log etc

[arjunchabbi]

Thank you so much!! It gives a general overview of how data structures work, definitely great for beginners

[codecat]

This is the best explanation as to not just what are Data Structures, but the most important reason as "Why" they are needed and so important. I've never heard anyone talk about them this way.

You have the best way of explaining things for someone like me. Just subscribed. Thank you!

[prostem]

Thank you so much! It’s really easy to understand data structures following your thoughts

[akshitmittal]

I just have few days to get into Fang and I have no idea about DSA as a whole. I was searching whole internet for a video explaining briefly about all data structures- array, lists, arraylists, linked list, stacks, queues, hash maps, trees. And when to use where just in brief, just for implementation purpose. But whole net was flooded with hours of vids for each DS. But yours man!!!! Its the one we all need, people like me. Thanks man. Can u make more of it covering all of those ds in brief pls. I use JAVa

[BioInASec]

This was actually good and it can be even better if you would add more examples for each data structure there is.

[joshuahenry]

Dude this video is awesome ! I am currently a third year Comp Sci undergrad taking my esteemed Data Structures & Algorithms class right now ! This is of great help ! thankyou🙏🏿